Arts, Culture, and Heritage as Drivers of Change
Multipurpose Urban Arena Jihlava
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The Multipurpose Urban Arena transforms a former ice rink site into a urban campus where sport, culture, and everyday community life meet right at the edge of Jihlava's historic centre. Replacing the original 1950s stadium, it reconnects the venue with the city and offers welcoming spaces for social gathering. It creates a new civic landmark that draws on the site’s memory while giving it renewed urban relevance.
Czechia
Local
Jihlava, Czech Republic
Mainly urban
It involves a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
2025-11-01
No
No
No
Organisation
The Multipurpose Urban Arena transforms a former ice rink site on the edge of the historic centre into a civic and cultural landmark. Preserving the legacy of HC Dukla, one of Czechoslovakia’s most successful hockey clubs, the project replaces the 1950s stadium while expanding the site for sports, culture, and public use. A building type typically relegated to the urban periphery instead engages directly with its historic context through a sculptural façade in hereditary red color, that also evokes expression that helps shape a renewed public realm. The flexible 7,400-seat interior accommodates events of various scale, while newly widened public spaces and enhanced pedestrian links activate daily life, connecting a nearby university and park with adjacent residential and industrial areas.
Another key feature that strengthens community engagement and promotes longterm healthy lifestyles is the publicly accessible rooftop running track, offering everyday recreational use, panoramic views, and a new way for residents to experience the city
Even though the Arena opened only recently, early operational data indicate strong economic performance. Regular hockey games attract around 4,500 spectators on average, while initial games held under a 2,000-capacity restriction indicated demand closer to 5,000 per game. The venue has also proven its value for cultural and international events - its first concert and the Davis Cup qualification sold out, with further high-profile events already scheduled.
By remaining in the city rather than moving to the outskirts, the project strengthens local businesses, supports walkability and public transport, and reinforces urban vitality. In the next twenty years, the initial public investment is expected to generate significant returns for the local economy through hotels, cafés, restaurants, and retail, confirming the Arena’s role as a lasting driver of public regeneration.
Another key feature that strengthens community engagement and promotes longterm healthy lifestyles is the publicly accessible rooftop running track, offering everyday recreational use, panoramic views, and a new way for residents to experience the city
Even though the Arena opened only recently, early operational data indicate strong economic performance. Regular hockey games attract around 4,500 spectators on average, while initial games held under a 2,000-capacity restriction indicated demand closer to 5,000 per game. The venue has also proven its value for cultural and international events - its first concert and the Davis Cup qualification sold out, with further high-profile events already scheduled.
By remaining in the city rather than moving to the outskirts, the project strengthens local businesses, supports walkability and public transport, and reinforces urban vitality. In the next twenty years, the initial public investment is expected to generate significant returns for the local economy through hotels, cafés, restaurants, and retail, confirming the Arena’s role as a lasting driver of public regeneration.
The project was developed in response to the need for a contemporary and open venue that could serve not only sport, but also culture, community life, and the wider public identity of Jihlava and the Vysočina region. Rising on the site of the city's former ice stadium, which had long served as a cherished local landmark but had become outdated, the new Arena honors the past while transforming it into a renewed civic and cultural anchor.
Its implementation was made possible through an architectural competition organised by the City of Jihlava, allowing a major public campus to emerge through an open design process. The project was rooted in a deliberate political and urban decision to keep the arena in the city and use it to strengthen Jihlava’s centre. As a result, the arena was embedded in the existing urban context and conceived as more than an indoor venue.
The newly built campus was organised into four volumes - two new and two retained. A newly designed corner building, a six-storey silver cube, stands as a welcoming beacon for visitors. It houses a fan shop and Hall of Fame on its ground floor, as well as a restaurant, a 29-room hotel, and a gym and sports hall on its upper floors. Between the arena and the corner building, a new staircase ameliorates a six-metre level change from Tolstého Street to the park and creates an amphitheatre setting: space for neighbours to gather and spend time. In this way, the project combines architectural quality, accessibility, and social inclusion to create a contemporary venue rooted in the city's history.
Its implementation was made possible through an architectural competition organised by the City of Jihlava, allowing a major public campus to emerge through an open design process. The project was rooted in a deliberate political and urban decision to keep the arena in the city and use it to strengthen Jihlava’s centre. As a result, the arena was embedded in the existing urban context and conceived as more than an indoor venue.
The newly built campus was organised into four volumes - two new and two retained. A newly designed corner building, a six-storey silver cube, stands as a welcoming beacon for visitors. It houses a fan shop and Hall of Fame on its ground floor, as well as a restaurant, a 29-room hotel, and a gym and sports hall on its upper floors. Between the arena and the corner building, a new staircase ameliorates a six-metre level change from Tolstého Street to the park and creates an amphitheatre setting: space for neighbours to gather and spend time. In this way, the project combines architectural quality, accessibility, and social inclusion to create a contemporary venue rooted in the city's history.
Urban regeneration
Civic infrastructure
Social inclusion
Hybrid typology
Landmark
A key aspect of the Arena’s sustainability lies in its urban location. Instead of being placed on the outskirts, it remains embedded in the city, within walking distance and easily accessible by public transport. This reduces car dependency and ensures that the building contributes to everyday urban life rather than functioning only during major events. The project also sparked the revitalisation of the adjacent park and nearby public spaces, transforming underused areas into a connected green. As part of the wider renewal, the thermal performance of the neighbouring university building was also improved.
Another important intervention is the stepped public space between the two new buildings, transforming a six-metre level difference between the street and the park into a place for movement and informal seating. Rather than treating topography as a constraint, the project turns it into public value. The clear layout, barrier-free circulation, and welcoming public realm make the complex accessible to a wide range of visitors.
Environmental responsibility is also addressed through both technical and landscape-based strategies. Waste heat from the ice surface is reused within the building’s technical systems, rather than being released into the atmosphere, while a highly insulated envelope, daylight-optimising façade, and natural ventilation solutions reduce HVAC energy demand and minimize heat loss, ensuring a healthy interior climate year-round. The planted roof on the main building further improves the Arena’s thermal performance and creates microhabitats that contribute to urban biodiversity. Local materials and suppliers were prioritised, reducing transport impacts and reinforcing the building's connection to its regional context. Together, these strategies make the Arena a durable, long-term public asset. By remaining in the city and prioritising local suppliers, the project also supports the local economy and strengthens existing urban structures.
Another important intervention is the stepped public space between the two new buildings, transforming a six-metre level difference between the street and the park into a place for movement and informal seating. Rather than treating topography as a constraint, the project turns it into public value. The clear layout, barrier-free circulation, and welcoming public realm make the complex accessible to a wide range of visitors.
Environmental responsibility is also addressed through both technical and landscape-based strategies. Waste heat from the ice surface is reused within the building’s technical systems, rather than being released into the atmosphere, while a highly insulated envelope, daylight-optimising façade, and natural ventilation solutions reduce HVAC energy demand and minimize heat loss, ensuring a healthy interior climate year-round. The planted roof on the main building further improves the Arena’s thermal performance and creates microhabitats that contribute to urban biodiversity. Local materials and suppliers were prioritised, reducing transport impacts and reinforcing the building's connection to its regional context. Together, these strategies make the Arena a durable, long-term public asset. By remaining in the city and prioritising local suppliers, the project also supports the local economy and strengthens existing urban structures.
From its earliest design stages, the Arena project was approached not as an isolated structure but as a collective civic endeavour. Through community engagement, urban analysis, and direct dialogue with local residents, people were given meaningful opportunities to help shape their surrounding environment. By preserving the historic location of the old ice stadium and weaving the city's layered history, drawn from the medieval city structure and into the design, the Arena fosters intergenerational memory. Over time, new experiences and stories accumulate, nurturing a sense of ownership, pride, and care where residents come to perceive the Arena as "their" place, with its spaces serving as catalysts for social interaction and shared experiences that can be passed on to future generations.
The Arena's aesthetic excellence emerges from its ability to translate civic identity, heritage, and contemporary design into a coherent architectural language. Its red façade and carefully integrated details - from lighting to typography - create a distinctive yet contextually grounded presence. By layering new interventions over the historic urban fabric and honoring the site's memory, the Arena adds a contemporary layer that has the potential to become future heritage. Its beauty lies not only in form and material but in how it engages people, activates public life, and strengthens the city's identity over time.
The Arena's aesthetic excellence emerges from its ability to translate civic identity, heritage, and contemporary design into a coherent architectural language. Its red façade and carefully integrated details - from lighting to typography - create a distinctive yet contextually grounded presence. By layering new interventions over the historic urban fabric and honoring the site's memory, the Arena adds a contemporary layer that has the potential to become future heritage. Its beauty lies not only in form and material but in how it engages people, activates public life, and strengthens the city's identity over time.
The project approaches inclusion as a spatial, social, and urban principle rather than as technical requirement. Accessibility is embedded in the design from the outset: the Arena is organised around clear orientation and barrier-free movement, allowing wheelchair users, people with reduced mobility, families with children, elderly visitors, and large event audiences to use the building in a straightforward way. Supporting the accessibility of the venue, graphic designer Lukáš Kijonka has developed a wayfinding system and typeface which references the triangular motif of the façade. These elements are fully integrated into the circulation concept, ensuring that all users can reach the building, its services, and major viewing areas without compromise.
This inclusive approach extends beyond physical access. Rather than functioning only as a venue for events, the complex supports a broader mix of uses, including a restaurant, gym, sports hall, accommodation, public outdoor space, and a rooftop running track. As a result, the Arena is used by different groups at different times of day and for various purposes, creating an open and socially mixed environment than is typical for this building type. Importantly, several of these spaces - including the public terraces and rooftop track - are accessible without a ticket, ensuring that the Arena remains open even to those not attending events.
Its central location further improves inclusion by making the venue accessible on foot and by public transport, rather than depending primarily on cars. This lowers practical barriers to participation and improves access across age groups and income levels. In this way, the project can be considered exemplary in terms of inclusion: it combines design-for-all principles, mixed everyday use, and urban accessibility to create a venue that that demonstrates how this large-scale public typology can move beyond functional accessibility to become genuinely inclusive civic platforms.
This inclusive approach extends beyond physical access. Rather than functioning only as a venue for events, the complex supports a broader mix of uses, including a restaurant, gym, sports hall, accommodation, public outdoor space, and a rooftop running track. As a result, the Arena is used by different groups at different times of day and for various purposes, creating an open and socially mixed environment than is typical for this building type. Importantly, several of these spaces - including the public terraces and rooftop track - are accessible without a ticket, ensuring that the Arena remains open even to those not attending events.
Its central location further improves inclusion by making the venue accessible on foot and by public transport, rather than depending primarily on cars. This lowers practical barriers to participation and improves access across age groups and income levels. In this way, the project can be considered exemplary in terms of inclusion: it combines design-for-all principles, mixed everyday use, and urban accessibility to create a venue that that demonstrates how this large-scale public typology can move beyond functional accessibility to become genuinely inclusive civic platforms.
The project involved the public primarily through an open and transparent decision-making process. It was presented during two official sessions at Jihlava City Hall, which allowed citizens to follow the project, understand its aims, and engage with its development within the formal civic framework. This public dimension was complemented by a smaller outreach activity in which children were invited to reimagine and illustrate the Arena. This exercise helped test whether the design was clear, recognisable, and meaningful beyond professional audiences. In this way, the Arena was not developed as a closed professional exercise, but as a publicly visible project with clear civic accountability.
As part of the project, artist Krištof Kintera was invited to create a site-specific installation using salvaged railings from the original stadium, marked by years of contact with fans. This intervention incorporates traces of past communities into the new structure, reinforcing a sense of continuity and collective ownership.
As part of the project, artist Krištof Kintera was invited to create a site-specific installation using salvaged railings from the original stadium, marked by years of contact with fans. This intervention incorporates traces of past communities into the new structure, reinforcing a sense of continuity and collective ownership.
The project was shaped through cooperation across several governance levels, with the City of Jihlava playing the leading role. At the local level, the city acted as client, defined the project brief, organised the architectural competition, coordinated the preparation process, and confirmed the key decision to keep the Arena in the city centre rather than move it to the outskirts. This gave the project a clear public mandate and ensured that urban, social, and cultural value remained central to its development. The architectural competition was itself an important governance tool, creating an open and transparent process through which the city could select the design and engage professional expertise at an early stage. CHYBIK + KRISTOF then worked closely with engineers, consultants, and project managers to translate this civic ambition into a feasible and technically complex public building.
At the regional level, the Vysočina Region contributed substantial financial support, recognising the Arena’s importance not only for Jihlava, but for the wider region. This regional involvement strengthened the project’s legitimacy and reinforced its role as shared public infrastructure with cultural and economic relevance beyond the city itself. The National Sports Agency also contributed to the project’s development by supporting the construction process financially and institutionally. European-level stakeholders were not directly involved in implementation, however, the project offers a transferable example of how a city-centre public building can be delivered through coordinated public governance rather than as a single-sector investment.
At the regional level, the Vysočina Region contributed substantial financial support, recognising the Arena’s importance not only for Jihlava, but for the wider region. This regional involvement strengthened the project’s legitimacy and reinforced its role as shared public infrastructure with cultural and economic relevance beyond the city itself. The National Sports Agency also contributed to the project’s development by supporting the construction process financially and institutionally. European-level stakeholders were not directly involved in implementation, however, the project offers a transferable example of how a city-centre public building can be delivered through coordinated public governance rather than as a single-sector investment.
The project was developed through close collaboration across architecture, urban design, engineering, product, graphic, and lighting design, landscape architecture, art, and craftsmanship. CHYBIK + KRISTOF approached the Arena holistically, treating it not only as a building, but as a complete public experience ranging from the cityscape and surrounding public realm to the interior atmosphere.
Architectural and urban design were closely integrated with structural and technical engineering in order to deliver a large-scale venue that remains open and comfortable in everyday use. This was complemented by product design through the involvement of David Karásek and the furniture studio mmcité, who developed a custom-designed folding seat that also serves as an acoustic treatment for the large space. The underside of the seat is moulded with a geometric pattern that absorbs sound and reduces echo in the hall. Hand-cast triangular light fixtures are embedded in the concrete walls of the interior, produced by the Czech glassworks BOMMA to a design by CHYBIK + KRISTOF.
Five large-scale light installations by Tech-fabrika are integrated throughout the Arena - four reinterpret the heritage of the Vysočina Region, while one reimagines the Dukla hockey club logo. The project also extends into landscape architecture and public art through the renewal of the neighbouring Smetanovy Sady, the largest park in the city centre, by Zdeněk Sendler and the installation of Krištof Kintera’s sculpture, made from reused railings from the former ice rink. This transdisciplinary approach allowed the Arena to combine technical complexity with cultural meaning, accessibility, and a strong sense of place.
Architectural and urban design were closely integrated with structural and technical engineering in order to deliver a large-scale venue that remains open and comfortable in everyday use. This was complemented by product design through the involvement of David Karásek and the furniture studio mmcité, who developed a custom-designed folding seat that also serves as an acoustic treatment for the large space. The underside of the seat is moulded with a geometric pattern that absorbs sound and reduces echo in the hall. Hand-cast triangular light fixtures are embedded in the concrete walls of the interior, produced by the Czech glassworks BOMMA to a design by CHYBIK + KRISTOF.
Five large-scale light installations by Tech-fabrika are integrated throughout the Arena - four reinterpret the heritage of the Vysočina Region, while one reimagines the Dukla hockey club logo. The project also extends into landscape architecture and public art through the renewal of the neighbouring Smetanovy Sady, the largest park in the city centre, by Zdeněk Sendler and the installation of Krištof Kintera’s sculpture, made from reused railings from the former ice rink. This transdisciplinary approach allowed the Arena to combine technical complexity with cultural meaning, accessibility, and a strong sense of place.
The Arena is based on a mixed business model that combines public investment, municipal ownership, and diversified operating revenues. Its construction was financed through a multi-source funding structure, with the City of Jihlava as lead investor, a CZK 500 million contribution from the Vysočina Region, and a CZK 300 million grant from the National Sports Agency. This reduced dependence on a single funding source.
Long-term financial sustainability is built on year-round, multi-use operation. The Arena is not reliant on one tenant or one event type. In addition to sports and major cultural events, the complex includes fitness facilities, accommodation, commercial units, and other services that generate regular income beyond major events. The model also includes a complementary public fundraising element: individual façade panels can be symbolically “adopted”, allowing residents and supporters to contribute directly to the project. In this way, the Arena is designed to function as both a high-profile event venue and an everyday public asset, supporting stable use, diversified income, and long-term viability.
Long-term financial sustainability is built on year-round, multi-use operation. The Arena is not reliant on one tenant or one event type. In addition to sports and major cultural events, the complex includes fitness facilities, accommodation, commercial units, and other services that generate regular income beyond major events. The model also includes a complementary public fundraising element: individual façade panels can be symbolically “adopted”, allowing residents and supporters to contribute directly to the project. In this way, the Arena is designed to function as both a high-profile event venue and an everyday public asset, supporting stable use, diversified income, and long-term viability.
The core aspect of the project that is scalable is its core urban strategy: instead of locating the arena on the outskirts, the project shows how multipurpose civic infrastructure can remain in the city and support existing neighbourhoods. This principle is relevant for many cities seeking to regenerate central sites rather than expand outward.
Furthermore, it is the mixed-use campus model. By combining the main arena with complementary functions such as accommodation, training facilities, public outdoor space, and everyday services, the project reduces dependence on single-event use and creates a more resilient civic programme. This logic can be adapted to different scales, budgets, and user groups.
Several design solutions could be successfully replicated for this typology, these include barrier-free circulation integrated from the outset, clear wayfinding, a flexible interior, and stepped public space that turns a topographic constraint into a social asset. Its transdisciplinary working method is equally transferable. The collaboration of architects, engineers, product designers, graphic designers, artists, landscape architects, and craftspeople created a coherent project in which technical performance, accessibility, and identity reinforce one another. The key learning is that large public infrastructure becomes more inclusive, sustainable, and economically resilient when it is embedded in the city, designed for multiple uses, and developed through close collaboration across disciplines.
Furthermore, it is the mixed-use campus model. By combining the main arena with complementary functions such as accommodation, training facilities, public outdoor space, and everyday services, the project reduces dependence on single-event use and creates a more resilient civic programme. This logic can be adapted to different scales, budgets, and user groups.
Several design solutions could be successfully replicated for this typology, these include barrier-free circulation integrated from the outset, clear wayfinding, a flexible interior, and stepped public space that turns a topographic constraint into a social asset. Its transdisciplinary working method is equally transferable. The collaboration of architects, engineers, product designers, graphic designers, artists, landscape architects, and craftspeople created a coherent project in which technical performance, accessibility, and identity reinforce one another. The key learning is that large public infrastructure becomes more inclusive, sustainable, and economically resilient when it is embedded in the city, designed for multiple uses, and developed through close collaboration across disciplines.
